Bulldogs strong in several sports

Published: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 11:15 AM.

While in the CPC,
Dixon
won a state title in 1990, was a perennial league champion and often made deep postseason runs.

The same can be said about the boys’ soccer team under coach Kevin Hicks. The Bulldogs made the state finals in 2003, 2006 and 2009, with the middle trip resulting in a championship.

Like
Moore
, Hicks said the ECC will be evenly matched in soccer.
Dixon
is joined by Southwest,
East Duplin
and Croatan as the league’s stronger programs.

“Our conference is so strong,” he said. “And every team that’s in it, except for
North Brunswick
, we have played anyways. We haven’t played
North Brunswick
in eight or nine years. If you look at what we have done in our nonconference the last 20 years, we have been very competitive with all those teams we’ve played. Most games have been close one way or the other.”

Given that, Hicks is confident that his club not only will compete in the conference but represent itself well in the postseason.

“The conference is so strong that it’s a good preparation for playoff time if you are able to get there,” he said.

Meanwhile, the baseball also looks to stay strong, despite the move. The Bulldogs have been one of the area’s best teams on the diamond and want to stay that way.
Dixon
played in the state 1-A finals in 2010.

DIXON — A school’s move from one classification into a bigger one could seem intimidating for coaches.

How will their team fare in a larger class that features bigger schools with a larger roster of more skilled players?

That’s certainly a question coaches in the past have asked when their schools have made such jumps.

Yet some Dixon High coaches believe their programs will still be quite competitive in the East Central 2-A Conference and in the NCHSAA playoffs now that the Bulldogs have moved out of the Coastal Plains 1-A Conference.

The volleyball, boys’ soccer and baseball teams have been strong over the years, and their coaches feel their programs can stay that way.

“I’m not too concerned,” said Heather Moore, the third-year coach of the volleyball team, one of the area’s stronger squads. “I’m looking forward to it because the schools we will be playing I think will be more evenly matched.

“We got Croatan, which usually has a pretty good program, East Duplin is a good program, and Southwest competes. I do think we are still going to be up there, but it may not be as easy as it was. I don’t anticipate us being a bottom program.”

While in the CPC, Dixon won a state title in 1990, was a perennial league champion and often made deep postseason runs.

The same can be said about the boys’ soccer team under coach Kevin Hicks. The Bulldogs made the state finals in 2003, 2006 and 2009, with the middle trip resulting in a championship.

Like Moore, Hicks said the ECC will be evenly matched in soccer. Dixon is joined by Southwest, East Duplin and Croatan as the league’s stronger programs.

“Our conference is so strong,” he said. “And every team that’s in it, except for North Brunswick, we have played anyways. We haven’t played North Brunswick in eight or nine years. If you look at what we have done in our nonconference the last 20 years, we have been very competitive with all those teams we’ve played. Most games have been close one way or the other.”

Given that, Hicks is confident that his club not only will compete in the conference but represent itself well in the postseason.

“The conference is so strong that it’s a good preparation for playoff time if you are able to get there,” he said.

Meanwhile, the baseball also looks to stay strong, despite the move. The Bulldogs have been one of the area’s best teams on the diamond and want to stay that way. Dixon played in the state 1-A finals in 2010.

“The conference will be deeper, but I think we will remain competitive,” baseball assistant coach and team spokesman Nick Raynor said. “It is a tougher conference because there are a larger number of competitive teams in it, but we look forward to the challenge.”

Dixon’s wrestling team has also been one of the area’s best while the football team has made strides in recent years. Other sports that have competed well are track and field and tennis.

“Our cross country has had pretty good success here lately as this past season and the year before we sent several kids to the state championships and in track and field we’ve had several kids go to state championships,” athletic director Brandon Ball said. “Softball made it to the playoffs for the first time in a while and women’s soccer is always going deep in the playoffs. Our golf gets to the playoffs.

“Obviously football, basketball and baseball get the spotlight…, but our smaller sports are doing very well also. People look at us as a baseball school or a soccer or baseball school, but we are more than that. We are very success in a lot of sports.”